Although IM Flash, the Intel-Micron NAND flash manufacturing joint venture, is ramping up a fab in Singapore, Intel is making no contribution to the costs.
"Intel is currently not participating with the capex expenditure in IMFS," says Micron CEO Steve Appleton. IMFS is IM Flash Singapore.
IMFS is currently ramping 25nm flash and is installing the tools for a 20nm process due to start running wafers in mid-2011.
If Intel is not contributing to the capex costs of IMFS then Intel’s 29% share in IM Flash will get diluted, and Micron will take 100% of the output from IMFS.
"We already have that in our financial models making assumption they are not going to participate," says Appleton, "we could really use the output for service centre customers."
Having exited its heavily loss-making NOR flash business by setting up Numonyx a joint NOR venture with ST, later sold to Micron, Intel could be preparing its way for an exit from NAND.
It never got more than single digit NAND market share and Micron increasingly controlled the joint venture, Intel said it was focussing on SSDs but these have been slower than expected to take market share from HDDs.